


Sparklers and Secrets

by Oreste_et_Pylade



Series: Santas and Sparklers [2]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Harry Potter References, Lanterns are quite romantic don't you think, Modern AU, New Year's Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 23:46:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9147349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oreste_et_Pylade/pseuds/Oreste_et_Pylade
Summary: It's New Year's Eve at Enjolras' house and his friends still have a job to do.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, Happy New Year! I was going to upload this on the 31st, but I was away from home all day and at a party at night (not by choice, I was being an introvert and reading Harry Potter in the room where everyone's coats were but I got a few laughs at parents dancing). Personally I would much prefer to spend New Year's Eve with Enjolras and his friends (as I'm sure we all would), so here you are! :)

When Enjolras answered the door on New Year’s Eve, everybody had the same question on their minds.

‘Where is everyone else?’ Enjolras said bluntly. The others murmured in agreement. He looked from Grantaire to Jehan, Combeferre, Éponine, Gavroche, Cosette, Marius and finally Courfeyrac.

‘ _You_ ,’ Enjolras snarled. ‘What did you do with them?’

Courfeyrac tried to look innocent and failed.

‘Well, I _may_ have convinced them to go to a party instead. I was planning on going, but then I remembered I still had to-’ he broke off and continued. ‘Uh- that my friends were more important than fun.’

Enjolras’ eyes narrowed so he quickly changed his phrasing. ‘Er, what I mean is- that I would have more fun with my friends?’ he grinned through sparkling teeth.

‘Ugh, I can’t believe Joly and Bossuet would do this to me,’ Grantaire complained.  

‘I’m sure it’s not personal,’ Cosette said kindly. ‘It was probably just that Musichetta wanted to spend time with some of her friends instead of us.’

‘You don’t understand,’ Grantaire whined. ‘What am I going to do without my drinking buddies?’

Enjolras turned around so sharply he whacked Marius in the face with his ponytail.

‘There will be no inebriation on my watch!’ he said resolutely.

‘Did you straighten your hair…?’ Courfeyrac was staring at his ponytail. Enjolras ignored him and continued.

‘You say you want to have a good time, but will it be worth it if you wake up tomorrow with a hangover and not remembering anything?’

This was a rhetorical question and there was no use in arguing with Enjolras. Assured of his victory, he turned back round, _incidentally_ hitting Grantaire.

The door swung wide open again and they all winced as it hit the wall. Joly and Bossuet ran in, without bothering to knock.

‘We made it!’ Bossuet panted.

‘Would you _mind_ closing the door you so _carefully_ opened?’ Enjolras raised his eyebrows.

Still bending over, his hands on his knees, Joly pushed the door shut with his cane.

‘My friends,’ Courfeyrac said warmly, dramatically spreading his arms out in a gesture of welcome. ‘What made you change your minds?’

‘Well,’ said Bossuet, who was recovering his breath faster. ‘We were escorting Musichetta to the party when it struck us why Courfeyrac had chosen to return, obviously at a great personal sacrifice.’

Bossuet paused and Joly resumed the narrative.

‘After thinking through all the possible reasons, we remembered, realised what he was up to and decided we didn’t want to miss the sh-’ he stopped as Bossuet elbowed him in the stomach. Courfeyrac was signalling to them vigorously to stop.

‘We, uh, realised the same thing he did…’ Bossuet was trying to read Courfeyrac’s gestures. ‘That… you guys were more important… Yes?’ he looked at Courfeyrac who nodded, while simultaneously trying to shush him. ‘Yes!’

‘I don’t like this…’ Enjolras murmured darkly. ‘What are you all hiding?!’ He shook his head around in frustration, hitting poor Courfeyrac. ‘Fine. I’ll let you have your little secrets. For now.’

Courfeyrac heaved an obvious sigh of relief.

‘Ok, just one more thing: are you sure about the ponytail?’

‘Doesn’t it look good?’ Enjolras asked quietly, blushing slightly and glancing round at Grantaire. Ten people shook their heads fervently.

‘Oh no, that’s not it at all – you look amazing,’ Courfeyrac continued. ‘ _As always,_ ’ he added in an undertone. ‘It’s just that I think it may be a safety hazard. You’ve already injured three people, and while my head knows that sparklers aren’t real fire, it really would set my nerves at ease.’

Enjolras scoffed at the light use of the word ‘injured’ and the mention of Courfeyrac’s nerves – he sounded like Joly – but he obliged and put his hair in a bun. Sighing secretly, everyone agreed that it suited him even more.

‘How much time do we have?’ Jehan said brightly. Combeferre checked his watch.

‘It’s quarter past seven now so about four and a half hours.’

‘Harry Potter marathon?’

‘Deathly Hallows one and two.’

‘Deal.’

‘Wait.’ Enjolras sounded suddenly panic stricken. ‘Are you not consulting everyone else?’

‘Well, everyone else agrees, don’t you?’ Everyone except Enjolras nodded.

‘Don’t you have the DVDs?’ Jehan asked with concern.

‘No, it’s not that, just-’

‘Don’t say you don’t like them!’

‘Prouvaire, how dare you even think that!? I just…’ He looked at his friends’ faces, begging for someone to help. He was met only with worried stares. ‘It’s fine. We can watch them.’

‘Yay! Let’s set up.’ Courfeyrac took charge. ‘Enjolras, get the DVDs. Jehan, make the popcorn. Combeferre – control him. Joly, Bossuet, get the drinks.’ Enjolras cleared his throat. Courfeyrac sighed. ‘Non-alcoholic. Marius… just keep on doing whatever it is you’re doing.’ Marius was staring blankly into space. ‘Ponine-’

‘Wait a minute, Courfeyrac.’ Cosette interrupted him suddenly, as if even she hadn’t planned to. ‘I’d like a word with Éponine, if that’s ok with your plans.’

He didn’t understand, but nodded. He gestured for everyone to leave. Gavroche refused to move until Éponine convinced him.

‘Go on, Gav,’ she said, patting him lightly on the back.

‘Don’t call me that!’ he looked at her with indignation.

‘Go, I’ll be with you in a second.’ Gavroche reluctantly followed Courfeyrac, who stood waiting for him by the kitchen door.

‘Come on, we can set up the TV,’ – he tried to keep a straight face – ‘Gav.’

‘Shut up!’

Éponine turned around and faced Cosette. They were both dreading what was about to happen.

‘So, um-’ Cosette started and then broke off. She had absolutely no idea of what she should say. There was no way of phrasing it correctly. _This is awkward, but I think you’re in love with my boyfriend?_ It sounded stupid and there was no way Éponine would be able to face her again. That she definitely didn’t want – she didn’t want it to open a rift between them, because she saw Éponine as a good friend.

‘This is about Marius, isn’t it?’ Éponine spared her the trouble of asking, but she was so pale she looked ill.

‘Oh, um- yes.’

‘How long have you known?’

 ‘Since Christmas, really.’ She paused and thought about it. ‘But now I’m surprised I couldn’t see it before. How long have you…?’

‘Ever since I met him when I was fourteen.’

‘But then- that was before I met him. Years before.’

‘Yeah. I guess he’s just always been blind.’

At that moment, Cosette felt sorry for her. She knew she had no obligation to; after all, Marius was her boyfriend by his choice. And even before they had met, Marius had no obligation to love Éponine back. But then she thought back to Jehan’s statement he made at Christmas, to which Éponine’s reaction showed Cosette how she felt about Marius: _it’s simply impossible not to feel anything at all for someone who cares about you that much_.

She still didn’t know whether this was true, considering Enjolras and Grantaire still weren’t together – as far as she knew, at least – but she wanted to believe it.

‘I’m sorry,’ Cosette said quietly.

‘What?’ Of all the possible reactions, Éponine had definitely not expected that. ‘It’s not your fault. If it’s anybody’s fault, it’s my own.’

‘Now that’s just ridiculous! We don’t choose who we fall in love with.’ Cosette was defending her: Éponine was in love with her boyfriend and she still didn’t want her to feel bad.

‘Well, I wish we did.’ Éponine was moved by Cosette’s concern for her, but it made her feel even worse. If Cosette had been ruthless and cold, it would have been better. She could have gone on hating her and hoping that one day Marius will realise that Cosette doesn’t deserve him and then he would be hers. But of course, that would never happen. Cosette was beautiful and loving and kind – everything Éponine was not. If anything, Marius didn’t deserve Cosette.

‘I’m sorry, I have to go.’ Éponine backed away. ‘Gavroche will be worried.’ She turned and left, slightly faster than she would have done if she had had all her composure.

*     *     *

In the study, Enjolras was surveying the shelves of DVDs and VHS tapes.

‘Woah,’ said Grantaire, who had just entered the room. ‘How many are there?’

‘Three hundred and twelve DVDs and two hundred and thirty three tapes,’ Enjolras replied without blinking an eye.

‘Huh? When did you count them?’

‘Some time when I was twelve. There’s no internet in this house and for a while we didn’t have TV so I spent most of my time reading and watching these.’

‘Aha! There it is!’ Grantaire pointed at a shelf high up. ‘The magnificent Harry Potter series,’ he said in the tone of a wildlife documentary presenter, ‘in its natural habitat. Though, of course, the books are better.’

‘Oh, there it is. I hadn’t seen it.’ Enjolras said unconvincingly.

‘Enjolras, I don’t believe you.’

‘Oh?’

‘Are you trying to delay it for some reason?’ Grantaire interrogated him.

‘No, no, not at all. In fact, the last part is my favourite. Except maybe for the first; it’s hard to tell, the atmosphere does change quite a lot in the third, partly due to the darker colour scheme-’

‘Ok, ok, I’ve heard enough. I asked for an explanation, not a dissertation.’

‘Ha, that’s quite good. I might use it some time.’

‘Just you dare.’

Grantaire reached up to get it, only there was a slight problem: he couldn’t reach. Frustrated, he stood on his tiptoes and jumped up, which was a hilarious sight to behold, but the DVDs were still just out of his reach.

Once Enjolras had got all the enjoyment he could out of watching his struggle, he decided to help. Grantaire felt arms close around his waist and was lifted up effortlessly. He took the DVDs and Enjolras set him down gently.

‘You could have done that a minute earlier, you know.’

‘I know,’ Enjolras replied, grinning evilly, ‘but where’s the fun in that?

They walked back to the kitchen/TV room, where Enjolras joined Courfeyrac and Gavroche in setting up the TV.

‘Psst!’ the sound came from the larder. Grantaire went slowly towards it and found Joly and Bossuet grinning slyly.

‘Did you get the drinks?’ Joly nodded in the direction of the door, where there were a few bottles.

‘Good,’ he said, and was about to go back.

‘But even better,’ Bossuet continued, ‘we have _this_.’

They produced flasks from their jackets.

‘Have you got yours?’ Joly asked.

‘No.’

‘No?’ Joly and Bossuet exclaimed simultaneously. ‘But-’

‘Look: we’re in Enjolras’ house, he doesn’t want us to drink, and I respect that. You should too.’

Joly and Bossuet stared at each other guiltily, then slowly put their flasks away. They picked up the drinks and made their way to the table.

‘It’s not like we’re even planning on getting drunk,’ grumbled Bossuet, ‘we’re just talking about a couple of drinks here, goddammit Enjolras.’

‘Exactly,’ said Joly, putting the drinks down on the table perhaps a little harder than was necessary. ‘And Grantaire, guilt-tripping us. I thought he was above that.’

*     *     *

It was a complicated task, fitting all of them onto the sofa and two armchairs. On the two-seater sofa sat Enjolras, Éponine, Cosette and Marius. Marius had suggested Cosette could sit on his lap, but she convinced him it would be uncomfortable for five hours. Gavroche was sitting on the back of the sofa, his legs dangling over Éponine and Cosette’s shoulders. Grantaire was spread across everyone’s knees, his head on Enjolras’ lap. Joly and Bossuet each had a chair to themselves, and Jehan, Combeferre and Courfeyrac were sitting on some pillows on the floor, leaning against the legs of the people on the sofa. It was convoluted enough at the best of times, not to mention whenever someone needed the toilet.

Enjolras did a quick calculation and they watched the most boring parts on fast forward, so they would have time to watch the whole of Part 2 before midnight. They took a short break after Part 1, everyone feeling the need to get some fresh air and stretch their legs. When Éponine went to the toilet, Cosette was left with Gavroche. Timidly, she asked him something that had been on her mind.

‘Gavroche?’

‘Hmm?’

‘What’s going to happen?’

‘Well, now Voldemort has the-’

‘I mean with you and Éponine?’

‘Oh. Actually, I think it’s going to be fine. She’s already been to some lawyers and she’s going to become my legal guardian. I’m going to live with her.’

‘That’s great, Gavroche! Are you sure she’ll be able to manage, looking after you…?’

‘I don’t need looking after! Anyway, it’ll be ok. I’m going to a new school, too. And, you never know, she might get a job where she can work from home more. She could write a bestselling book. She’s writing one now. She won’t let me see it, but it’s called _A Little in Love_ and it’s about a girl dying in a revolution, or something like that. The title sounds like some terrible romance book, but then I guess I don’t know, considering she won’t let me read it.’ He folded his arms and pouted.

‘Well, you can tell Éponine if she needs any help, I’d be happy to-’ she broke off as Éponine came back into the room.

Everyone was back, except Courfeyrac.

‘Where do you think he could- AARGHH!’ Courfeyrac had pounced on top of Joly from behind his chair. For some bizarre reason, he was wearing an eyepatch.

‘CONSTANT VIGILANCE!’ he barked, and suddenly they understood the eyepatch.

He looked down at Combeferre.

‘Do you know what your Patronus is?’

‘Er, no…’

‘Well, I do! It’s a Combe _ferret_!’ He threw a white ferret cuddly toy at him.

‘Settle down, everyone,’ Combeferre tried to speak over the roars of laughter. ‘Hurry up, if we don’t start now we won’t be able to finish it this year.’

*     *     *

Everyone was crying. Everyone, including Enjolras. He tried to hide it but couldn’t hide from Grantaire, who was staring straight up at him from his lap. Now they knew why Enjolras was hesitant about watching it.

‘It’s ok, Enjolras,’ said Grantaire, reaching up and patting Enjolras’ head. ‘We’re all crying.’

‘We have five minutes!’ Combeferre said, jumping up suddenly.

There was a rush to get everything set up. Bossuet grabbed the champagne – it was the only alcohol they were allowed to have that night so he was looking forward to it. Joly, Marius and Éponine took the glasses outside. Cosette found the fireworks with Enjolras and Grantaire brought the sparklers. Gavroche was ensuring Jehan brought his non-alcoholic drink, and Combeferre was in charge of the countdown. Courfeyrac was opening doors for everyone.

By the time they finally got out and were ready to open the champagne and light the sparklers, there were twenty seconds remaining of the year.

‘Ten!’ they all counted down together, ‘Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!’

The fireworks were incredible. That was partly the reason they chose to go to Enjolras’ house. There were a lot of local fireworks and all the fireworks from the city were visible. They decided to light their own fireworks.

There were five of them, but they were very good. The second one didn’t light, so Grantaire made his way forward to relight it, but Enjolras stopped him by grabbing him round the middle and pulling him back.

‘No, Grantaire, you can’t relight fireworks, it’s dangerous! There are thousands of accidents every year because they explode in people’s faces when they go near them.’

‘It’s alright, Enjolras. I saw it go out,’ said Courfeyrac. ‘Look, with this lighter he’ll be a safe…ish distance away.’

Reluctantly, Enjolras let go of Grantaire and let him relight the firework. He moved a safe distance back before it zoomed off perfectly, albeit slightly lop-sided.

They stayed watching the fireworks for about ten minutes.

‘It’s freezing,’ announced Joly. ‘I’m going back inside, I don’t want to catch a cold.’

‘I’m staying,’ said Grantaire.

‘Me too,’ added Enjolras hastily.

Once he had said that, everyone seemed to suddenly get very cold and they all scurried back inside, leaving the two of them alone. They went to find good places to watch the remaining fireworks, while Courfeyrac and Jehan were spying on Enjolras and Grantaire through the kitchen window. They turned the lights off so they wouldn’t be seen from outside.

‘There’s a good one!’ Grantaire pointed to a firework.

‘Yeah. Ooh, look over there.’

A few lights were floating in the sky. They were lanterns. They were gradually joined by a few more until there was quite an impressive number of them.

‘I’ve never actually had lanterns,’ said Grantaire, ‘although I’ve always wondered if you could tie a load of them together to read _Happy New Year_. It would probably take a lot of people, and lighting them all would be a nightmare-’

He turned around and saw that Enjolras had disappeared. A few seconds later, he heard a door close and Enjolras came out with a lantern.

‘I thought so!’ he seemed proud of himself. ‘There was just one left in the tool shed.’

‘Great! How do you light it?’

Enjolras swung the lantern around to fill it with air and put a candle in it.

‘All you do is light this, wait for a minute until you feel it tugging upwards, and just let go of it.’

Grantaire took out the lighter and lit the candle. It felt a bit awkward just waiting around, but then Enjolras put his hand on top of Grantaire’s.

‘You can release now,’ he said. They let go of the lantern, which floated gently upwards. They felt an almost parental sense of pride as they watched it drift up into the sky. Enjolras realised with a start that they were still holding hands, but he didn’t let go.

 

 

 


End file.
